An Inside Look
by Tando
Summary: Short stories of various characters and their emotions, both from the Pixar universe and beyond.


Cold College Feet

Andy collapses onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Another long day...of...classes...and studying…" Andy's Sadness grumbles, before falling onto the floor.

"How many hours does studying require anyway?" his Disgust asks.

Andy checks his phone, which reads: 5:30 A.M.

"Let's not rest too long," Andy's Fear suggests, "we still have to study for tomorrow's test."

Andy's emotions are set up on a long, blue console. There are chairs for each emotion, with Sadness in the center. Despite Sadness being the lead emotion, all of the emotions are shaped like Joy, and sport Andy's signature short, floppy hairdo.

"You guys, we'll be fine for tomorrow's test. We need our sleep, besides we now have almost two days worth of memories that needs to get to long-term memory," Andy's Joy argues, glancing behind him at the various memories scattered along the floor of Headquarters, before pressing a button on the console.

Andy slowly starts to close his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

"Finally...some rest," Sadness mumbles, before following the rest of the emotions up the Headquarter stairs to get some sleep.

"Uhm, Sadness, I think you're forgetting something. You have dream duty tonight...or this morning, or whatever time this is," Disgust reminds him.

Sadness sighs, "Oh yeah...that's right."

"Cheer up you guys, once we're past this final test, we can finally catch up on some well-deserved rest," Joy tells the other emotions, as the lights go out in Headquarters.

Andy's Sadness sit down at the console, sporting the same floppish haircut and blue shirt as Andy. After hitting the switch that sends memories to long-term, he pulls up a chair and leans his thin limbs back, his poor posture sinking him down into the chair.

Dream Productions kicks in, the screen lighting up with an image of Andy driving in his car away from his house, his mom and younger sister waving goodbye from the sidewalk. As he continues to drive along the road, his car seems to lift off of the road, flying in the sky before inexplicably dropping down on the road again. But he's no longer in his hometown, but in front of his college. Andy turns around and sees his mom and younger sister walking off into a white abyss behind him. He hurries out of the car and starts running toward them, away from his college, but as fast as he runs, he can't keep up with them, and they fade into the neverending abyss.

"No...wait…" Andy murmurs, holding his hand out to them.

Andy's Sadness sighs, "Oh no, that's sad...maybe we're not ready for college, maybe we should go home."

Just then, the sound of a phone vibrating jolts Andy awake. He turns his head over to his nightstand and discovers the alarm set on his phone is buzzing. The clock on his phone shows the time: 7:30 A.M. Only two hours of sleep.

The memory tube starts dispelling all of the memories Andy's Sadness had just sent up to long-term. They spill out onto the floor, cluttering the already memory-laden Headquarters.

Andy's other emotions start walking down the stairs.

"Oh, you're kidding me. Don't tell me two hours isn't enough to send those memories up to long-term?" Andy's Anger complains, slapping his forehead.

"Some got through...but not much..." Sadness mumbles, looking down.

Anger takes control of the console, "Well, two hours of sleep is no way to live. C'mon, let's just get this day over with."

Andy grumpily gets out of bed and stomps over to the bathroom to wash up. He holds his head, and Headquarters starts to shake.

"Oh no! We can't get enough sleep to get these memories into long-term, and all of these memories will either disappear or cause Andy to collapse!" Andy's Fear woes, biting his nails.

Andy's Joy hangs onto a nearby wall as the tremors within Headquarters stop, "Don't worry, these unstored memories might be giving Andy a massive headache right now, but they'll all get to long-term after a well-placed nap."

His roommate, already awake in the bed across from his, watches him fling the bathroom door open and snatch up his toothbrush.

"Hey Andy, you turned in late last night, you alright?" he asks.

Andy sighs, looking at himself in the mirror, "I..I'm fine Russell. Thanks."

"That guy's working too hard," Russell's Disgust comments, shaking his head.

Russell's Anger waves him off, "No way he's working _that_ hard his freshmen year. He must be worked up over a girl or something."

"Should we ask?" his Fear inquires.

Russell's emotions all look at each other, before collectively shaking their heads, "Nah…"

After showering and throwing on the nearest set of clothes, Andy grabs his laptop pack and heads out the door.

Halfway to class, Andy's phone rings, and he picks it up, "Yeah?"

"Andy, it's your mother, I'm just checking in to see how things are," Andy's mom's voice comes from the other end, along with loud sounds and a child's voice in the background.

"Oh no, it's Mom! Quick, sound awake, alert, and brimming with energy!" Andy's Fear exclaims.

"Not without a good night's sleep or a decent cup of coffee we can't," Andy's Disgust rolls his eyes.

"Hey Mom! Yeah, yeah, I'm doing...okay, I guess. Say, is that, yelling I hear in the background?" Andy asks.

"Oh yeah, Molly and I are having an early lunch at the Anderson's house. Bonnie! Molly! Come say hello to Andy!"

The sound of bare feet against hardwood floor can be heard as Bonnie Anderson and Andy's little sister Molly run to the phone.

"Hey Andy! Hope you're having fun at college! Can you get me one of those giant mascot suits?" Molly's enthusiastic voice rings out.

Bonnie giggles, "Thank you for the toys, Andy! Molly and I are about to go on a super space adventure with blue reindeer to meet the ambassador of Jupiter!"

Andy laughs, "Sounds like quite the adventure."

Bonnie and Molly laugh as they run off, while Andy's Mom starts talking into the phone, "Haha, it's so nice that Molly offered to play with Bonnie, and it's good to see your old toys finally played with after all these years."

He nods, "Yeah…"

Andy approaches the main building, "Hey Mom, I've gotta go to class now. Love you."

Hanging up, a tired and rather aloof Andy stumbles into the lecture hall. Making a point to take a seat at the back of the class, he plops himself down and opens up his book.

"Okay, we just have to make it to the end of this class. Then we'll have a solid hour until our next class to take a good nap," Andy's Joy plans out.

"It's too much. Let's just fall asleep in class. We're in the back, no one will notice," Sadness suggests.

Fear grasps his cheeks, "But what if the professor catches us?!"

"Trust me, the professor will be half-asleep himself. I really just want some shut eye," Disgust yawns.

The professor walks into the middle circle of the large lecture hall and starts speaking and writing on the chalkboard, but Andy is unable to pay attention, slumping his head into his hands and letting his eyes slowly begin to droop.

The lights in Headquarters begin to dim, but Joy is quick to run to react, pressing a few buttons on the console, "No, no, no, stay awake."

Andy's Joy starts frantically pressing buttons on the console, but the lights go out completely, and Andy flops onto his notebook as he falls asleep.

"No...Andy fell asleep," Joy slaps his forehead.

"Eh, he needs the rest anyhow, and so do we. I don't know about you guys, but I'm heading upstairs," Andy's Anger shrugs, getting out of his chair with the rest of the emotions.

Joy lingers behind Andy's other emotions, before sighing and heading upstairs as well. But just then, Headquarter's lights blaze back on.

Andy's eyes blink open as the professor repeats, "Mr. Davis...Mr. Davis!"

"Shoot, the professor! We need to wake up!" Andy's Sadness cries, as his emotions see the professor standing right over Andy.

Andy's Fear scampers to the console, slamming his hand down on a large button.

Andy shoots his head awake, "Y-yes sir?"

"Mr. Davis, I do not take kindly to students sleeping in my class. I suggest you excuse yourself for today," the professor suggests, before walking back to the middle circle.

"Wha-...he wants to kick us out?" Andy's Sadness realizes, before pausing to consider, "...fine. Let's go then."

Andy stands, quickly collects his things, and heads out of the lecture hall, others watching him as he leaves.

"Everyone's staring at us…" Fear mumbles.

Andy's Anger scoffs, "Let them look. I just want to get back to the dorm to get some sleep."

"You guys, this isn't the first time we've fallen asleep in class. We need to start getting more sleep," Joy cries, slumping back in his chair.

"Maybe we're just not cut out for this whole college thing," Sadness sighs, "oh! I've got an idea."

He gets out of his chair and runs over to get an idea, as the other emotions watch him. Picking up the idea, Sadness holds it up, "We should…! We should...we should go home…"

"No, that's a terrible idea!" Joy runs over to grab the light bulb-shaped idea out of Sadness' hand, "We're just...we're just homesick is all. C'mon, it hasn't even been one semester yet. We'll just ride it out, what would Mom think if we were to give up this easily? What kind of example would it set for Molly?"

"But...college is hard, all of our friends are at home...and we miss...we miss everything!" Sadness shouts, before pushing past Joy to stomp over to the console.

"Don't you dare put that idea in!" Andy's Joy leaps on top of Sadness, knocking the idea out of his hand.

Shoving Joy off of him, Sadness snatches up the idea and twists it into the console, "There! We're dropping out!"

Andy stops in his tracks for a moment on his way back to his dorm. His expression changes from one of downtrodden guilt to one of decided determination.

He slams the dorm door open, much to the surprise of Russell, watching a video on his computer, "You're back early."

Andy's Anger moves a notch on the console and Andy continues marching forward, not responding.

"Hang on...what is Russell watching?" Disgust asks.

Andy turns toward Russell and his computer, as a familiar song starts playing. The computer is full-screen on a black-and-white image of a Western set with puppets.

" _Woody's Roundup, right here everyday!_

 _Woody's Roundup, c'mon it's time to play._

 _There's Jessie the yodelin' cowgirl. Yodel-le-yodel-lo-yodel-le-yohe!_

 _Bullseye he's Woody's horse. He's a smart one. Neigh!_

 _Pete the ol' prospector, and Woody the man himself,_

 _of course it's time for Woody's Roundup, he's the very best!_

 _He's the rootinest, tootinest cowboy in the Wild, Wild West!_

 _Woody's Roundup…_ "

Excited, Andy's Joy presses a couple of buttons on the console, and Andy grabs a chair to sit down next to Russell, "Oh, I've seen this show around the internet. I actually had a Woody figure growing up."

"Seriously? Dude, those things are super rare. Did you sell it for a ton online?" Russell asks.

Andy shakes his head as Sadness recalls a memory. The monitor is covered by a Happy-Sad memory of Andy as a child playing with his old toys. He'd just gotten Jessie and Bullseye as gifts from Mom, and was directing a play-session where Woody, his Buzz Lightyear toy, Jessie, and Bullseye had to stop his Piggy Bank and his T-Rex from...something. That part of the memory seems to have faded away.

"We miss home…" Andy's Sadness repeats.

Andy's Joy smiles, "But remember? We gave our toys to Bonnie, it's time to move on. But Woody and Buzz will always be in our hearts, and in one way or another, we'll always be able to come back to them."

The idea in the console pops out, and Sadness takes out the idea, "Maybe we'll give this college thing another try."

"First, some sleep," Disgust recommends, tapping a button on the console.

Andy pulls away the chair, "Welp, that's cool. I'm going to take a nap, if you don't mind."

Russell nods, before plugging in some earbuds as Andy climbs into bed. The lights in Andy's Headquaters goes off, as his emotions head upstairs for some sleep.

"I'll take dream duty," Andy's Joy offers.

As the last emotion heads upstairs, Joy shuts off Dream Productions, "It's okay guys, I've got it tonight."

Joy recalls another memory, the one where Andy gave his toys to Bonnie. Before leaving Bonnie's house to head to college, he played with his toys one last time. It was his farewell, but they'll always live on with him.


End file.
